Thursday, June 29, 2006

Question: hey earache I wanted to know why your recording company either the metal scene isnt really that accessable here in asia especially here in the philippines since there is so many metal kids,punks and kick ass emo kids.I know that your British and your priority are European nad some American but I just wanted to know why metal scene doesnt really accessable here in the shores of the Philippines,since metal scene will really sell here in our shore,and do you have plans of getting artist here in asia neither here in Philippines,there so many metal bands that really play good here in th Philippines but they dont have a chance to get a recording deal and I wanted to know how I can get a recording deal easy. thanks,more power to you. From: napalm_carcass@yahoo.com.ph

Answer:from time to time, we have some contact with metal fans in Philippines- like yourself- but not much in the way of business contacts to help the distribution of Earache's cds and products there.I know the metal scene is huge and exploding right now over there, but we have no way to distribute our cds. Fans can always download our Mp3's from our download site METALTRACKS.COM tho.Thanks for your support!

Monday, June 26, 2006

Question: Why has every trace of !T.O.O.H.! been whiped off Earache??? All the rest of the elitist bands are still traceable, whats goin on? From: megathrax6@hotmail.com

Answer: T.O.O.H' s album was released,permanently deleted, and their contract voided by Earache on the very same day.The album was the final one to be released on the Elitist sub-label, which Earache funded from 2001- late 2005, and marked the final closure of the under-performing sub-label,much to our very great relief.Consequently we did not attach any importance to the 3-piece Grind band's 'opus'.

I simply want to know how I can get a hold of the lyrics for Entombed\'s Left Hand Path album - preferably by download! I\'ve been wanting the lyrics since the album came out and I don\'t know where else to look.

I hope you can help!

Big \'Left Hand Path\' fan,

Answer:The lyrics are in English, but were not printed on the LP or CD as the band were not happy with their command of the language at that point in their career. Being Swedish teenagers at the time of its release, thats understandable, and i also think they wanted to keep things a little mysterious too. Some editions of the CD do have the lyrics, i think, but its very rare.Nearly every record Earache has released comes with the lyrics, as its part of the fun of having the album, but thanks for reminding us- for Left Hand Path none are included! You could try here

Question: Hi, I\'m 33 y.o and i\'m interesting to work in \"music business\" like drum tech, roadioe or bus drivers, where can i ask for this kind of job?

Thank you and long life to metal!

Cédric from Switzerland From: cca666@bluewin.ch

Answer: if you want to work in the Music Biz- the best way, perhaps the only way, is to start off by doing work experience for free.Nearly everyone i know within the Independent Rock music Industry started as a fan of the music,including me, by helping out bands for FREE by either managing them, putting on shows for them, or simply promoting the act by writing about them in a fanzine etc.Nearly every band would welcome some help..BUT The long long hours of work for scant reward and barely an iota of gratitude from the artists themselves soon weeds out the non-committed.If you stick it out for long enough, then its possible the position could turn into a paid one, and if the band becomes popular then you can actually make a decent living from the music, without even being a musician, as part of the back up team.You have no idea how many bands i know right now that need a van +driver to take them to shows, a lot of bands are young and cannot hire a van themselves ( in the UK you have to be 25+ years old for insurance purposes)..you could ask around at your local clubs if the club needs any help, or place an advert in the music press.Good luck.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Question: I read a while back in the black metal documentary book \"Lord of Chaos\" that Varg Vikernes (of infamous Burzum fame) was actually going to sign to Earache Records during the early 90\'s but it didn\'t happen. This accordingly is because Earache isn\'t a black metal label and also he had (and still has) radical racist views. Can you tell us alittle bit more about this story or is it a rumor? From: davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: yeah, once again, it's true.Burzum was about to sign with Earache in 1993, soon after the debut 'Aske' was released on Euronymous' label 'Deathlike Silence'.But after spending 2 full days with Varg, I backed out of the deal at the last minute. Here's why:

Norwegian Black Metal was in its infancy and consisted of a handful of extreme bands and extreme personalities and musicians.Tho it was such a small scene, it was already making shockwaves in the much larger worldwide Death Metal scene which Earache played a part in.I was set on signing Burzum as I could tell from afar that Varg was a charismatic character and we assumed he would do well, both as a musician and as a scene personality.At the same time, UK's Kerrang! magazine unexpectedly ran a front cover story on the church burnings and all the general mayhem and insane stuff going on in Norway.So we had to act fast to sign him- I paid for Varg to fly to UK the very next week, for a meeting with Earache to conclude the signing arrangements,and it proved to be his only visit to these shores ever, I beleive.

So,in April 1993 Varg flew into Manchester airport - where he set off all the metal detector alarms as he refused to take off his chain mail vest!!.We had arranged a car to bring him to Nottingham- whereupon we (Varg, wearing his chain mail armour(!), myself and Al Dawson, Uk label manager) sat down for our business meeting at the local Nottingham pizza house "Bella Pasta" ( its still there) and discussed the signing of Burzum to Earache. Varg was all for it..and vowed to go back and tell Euronymous that he no longer wished to work for him, and he was going to record music with the much more established Earache instead.

Varg impressed us during the meeting with his razor sharp intellect,he talked at great length about a number of wide ranging topics, so much so that we had finished our pizzas before he even touched his-then without prompting, and for no particular reason, he began to air many of his racist viewpoints to us, which was really ridiculous as Earache has traditionally promoted bands like Napalm Death who stand staunchly against racism (as any sensible person would, naturally).

Unknown to us,the guy was very much informed by right wing politics,so much so, we kinda put it down to his trying to appear 'evil' and of being full of adolescent bravado in front of his potential new label.He also regailed us with stories of how he had burned a church down, which we knew all about (it was front page news in Norway after all, as most older buildings being constructed of wood in Norway, its relatively easy) for which he had been arrested, and later released.But then to top the lot- he told in full gory detail, how he had committed the murder of a homeless person with a knife.This extra stuff was unreal,it was like the ramblings of a complete fantasist.Frankly, we didn't beleive a word of it.(We now assume he was recounting - and taking 'credit' -for Bard/Faust's act of murder of a year earlier)

Varg stayed over at my house, where we played the demos for Burzum albums 2-3 and 4 ( thats what you call planning ahead!) before he caught the flight back to Norway, but I was already getting cold feet over the signing, because such right wing views are just not compatible with the labels standpoint. On his return Earache backed out of the deal and broke off all contact, Varg didnt seem too phased.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Question: Here\'s another question that\'s been bugging me... sorry for all the questions but there\'s so much about these bands I wanna just find out:

Godflesh is probably one of my favourtie bands ever and probably the most unique band to ever sign to Earache. I actually read from the official Godflesh fansite (Godflesh.com) that Godflesh and Kirk Hammett of Metallica fame actually had some bad blood... well sort of.

Kirk supposedly said that Godflesh was one of his favorite bands and that their music is unbelieveable crushing. Justin Broadrick and Godflesh were flattered and they supposedly actually had contacts with one another here and there. Later however, Kirk Hammett and Metallica made the album \"Reload\" and some of the artwork for the album was taken from Godflesh\'s music video \"Crush My Soul.\" Kirk or no one in Metallica credited Godflesh or the director of that music video for the cover art or the artwork credit. Hence Godflesh and Kirk had some bad blood but in the end, one time Kirk mentioned in an interview that the most heaviest band in the world is Godflesh, which was his way of easing the tension between the two bands.

Long story I know but I made it short for ya... now this is according to Godflesh.com but it just sounds too good to be true so would you know if this is somehow valid?

Also, just one more question that\'s Godflesh related: I heard that Justin Broadrick was once asked to join bands like Danzig and Faith No More full time but he declined the offers... was this a rumor or is this true to your knowledge that he was asked to join these two bands?

Thanks once again! From: davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: well- as this page says-if you wanna know something- you came to the right place! Its pretty much 100% true actually.Godflesh was one of Earache's most innovative bands in the early 90's grind/death era, by having more industrial and arty leanings, their truly crushing, drum machine driven sound was totally heavy but also stood out from the pack.Godflesh quickly became very famous with the SF and LA alterna-metal crowd- i think a Kerrang! magazine writer Steffan Chirazi was responsible for this- he seemed to be turning on all his friends like Metallica, Faith No More and just about everyone else in California into Godflesh fanatics, such that when they toured West Coast for the first time around 1994, Kirk Hammett actually asked Justin to drop by his palatial home and studio and to jam together and hang out and shoot the shit about each others bands - Kirk generously gave him a guitar and some 'tallica momentoes, and naturally attended the Godflesh gig later ( i think Lars came too?)

I guess that was where Justin mentioned to Kirk that Godflesh's new video "Crush My Soul' had been directed by the up n coming avant garde artist Andres SerranoThe artist had become famous for graphic artworks like Piss Christ(a controversial photograph of a crucifix immersed in a beaker of piss), and Godflesh was the first and only music video he directed.

It seems that the next Metallica album cover-1996's " Load" utilised the same artists work, no doubt influenced by Godflesh's video years earlier.I guess Justin felt he had given kirk the idea, which is no doubt true, i dont actually think any of Godflesh 's art itself was used by Metallica tho, that would be cheesy.It was the idea of using Serrano in the first place he was upset about.

And yes its is true that both Faith No More and years later Danzig asked Justin to join their band on guitar- both times he refused, prefering to make his own music.Justin nows plays in his incredible new band -Jesu.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Question: this one is for digby, are you the dig pearson whos in the thank you list of various macc lads records just out of interest. From: unknown.

Answer: yup its me..tho i doubt I was actually 'thanked' on any Macc lads records when they were going during early-mid 80's..its the first time i heard they mentioned me, since i have none of their records to bother to check.I used to slag them off in my column in Maximum Rock n Roll fanzine for being sexist cunts, and rubbish musically aswell.Hmmm-I guess i had a sense of humour bypass when i was younger, being yer typical UK angry politico crass/discharge anarcho type back then, so macc lads lyrics were deemed a complete fucking sexist nightmare. This was before PC (political correctness) came into fashion!

Earache later signed Anal Cunt- an obnxious grind band,who were not too different to the macc lads really.. Nowadays i think they are pretty funny actually- fair play to them,they are a 'Sid the Sexist' cartoon character out of Viz comics, come to life as a band.Its Extreme, and Hilarious.

Question: i read in on of the latest \'ask earache\' thingys they were going on about SANZEN getting signed and maybe a metal revival around notts/etc. we\'ll i\'d just like to say that your a bit late, a new wave of thrash is gonna take over the uk, e.g. DEADFALL/EVILE/HEADLESS CROSS/etc... From: Unknown.

Answer: yeah we know! see you at the junktion 7 on thursday for some THRASH!!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Question: I think you guys owe us Deicide fans an explanation why the Deicide cd wasnt released on tuesday?? All the press before said it would come out on tuesday. Then, right before it came out you said, \' Oh wait, now its just going to be two songs\'. And not only that, but then you expect us to pays for it!. I think you guys should stop jerking the Deicide fans around and tell us officially when the thing is coming out and stick to it!! From: Sherfoto@comcast.com

Answer: Sorry BUT YEAH - we ARE expecting you to pay for it- DAMN RIGHT.twice over actually.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Question: maybe you can kill a rumour hear, is it true that earache recomended against glen benton apearing on roadrunner united as has been reported on several roadrunner fansites and zines. From:

Answer: Nah, thats complete hogwash.We never had any opinion about it actually, apart from a measure of suprise as Glen had previously led us to beleive that he hated RR. First we knew was Glen announced he was off to the studio to record his vocals, and it turned out great, the song he guests on is the best on that compilation, by far i think.

Question: This is a question that i have wondered about for a long time why didnt earache sign or attempt earthtone 9, i mean they had all the ingredients that most earache bands at that time had eg nottingham based, former members of earache bands either in live line up or for collaberations eg working with members of iron monkey and so on. It just strikes me as weird as of all the nottingham metal bands at that time earthtone9 seemed to be the one that slipped through the net From: Unknown.

Answer: yeah you are right, it is weird i suppose,Earthtone 9 were a brilliant and important Nottm band but we never worked with them. Earache does historically support and get involved with new Nottingham bands, if they are any good- from HERESY,LAWNMOWER DETH, FUDGE TUNNEL, PITCHSHIFTER, IRON MONKEY, even the short lived but amazing SILENCER there's probably not another label out there that has given a chance to so many Nottm based bands in their early stages, since we live in the city we catch a lot of bands playing early on.

But if you asked any of those bands what they thought of their time on Earache none would be very complementary i expect, and thats always been our problem in our small provincial Uk city- small talk, bitching and backbiting take precedence over actually getting off their arses and building a career for many bands in this wonderful gun-crime-infested place on the banks of the river Trent.Its a long standing mystery in the Nottm music scene why exactly has no Rock/metal band from this area ever become absolutely huge on the world stage, and i personally think that that tendency is the major reason.

Naturally we approached Earthtone 9,(guitarist Owen used to work at Earache for a short time, and played us his Blastcage demos while here, which sucked) but they had just inked with new label Copro, so to do the right thing we made a license offer to their label- Copro- which as just starting out and was putting a hell of a lot of faith in E9. Copro rejected the offer.We put a lot of it down to the bad rep the label has garnered locally, plus the strong DIY ethic which the band subscribe to, which is another local trait.

A similar thing happened when we tried to sign DAI LO- another set of local hopefuls from 4-5 years back, who rejected our deal offer and after a stunning debut on Copro, disappeared without trace.

Earache still watches out for local bands, but is not trying to sign any at the moment.A new label in town -In At The Deep End Records- has recently signed SANZEN, so maybe there is going to be another revival in Nottingham's metal scene soon?

Friday, June 09, 2006

Question: in a recent interview in a DC fanzine mike pike spoke about the signing of high on fire to relapse after the split of sleep and he made the comment \" i doubt earache would have me back\". not trying to chase a feud or anything but what does he mean by this did sleep leave earache on bad terms? From:

Answer:Yeah if ya wanna know: Sleep walked out of their deal with Earache barely a year into it, to chase their major label contract with London Records which their high powered management secured for them after their1992 Earache debut on the label "Sleep's Holy Mountain' had garnered high praise among the cogniscenti and industry scenesters. Earache agreed to not stand in their way, do the right thing, so we -reluctantly- let the band go so they could chase the major label dream. This was done under a " settlement deal" see above-the settlement also waived all the bands royalty rights in their one album recorded under our 4 album deal. This was 1995 or so, and explains why they don't receive royalties- they walked away from them, willingly and gladly. Presumably the band assumed they would go on to greater financial rewards on London Records except it did not quite pan out like that as they were dropped from the major and spent 1996-2009 split up.

Anyway its a classic album which has stood the test of time..but even right after its release it was highly rated, being a fantastic Sabbath/Stoner album. its hardly been bettered since..I recall in 1992 Earache made the first Black Sabbath tribute album which we sent personally to Tony Iommi.We heard back that he loved it, especially Sleep who according to him, "embodied the spirit of early Sabbath". This got quoted a lot by us as a hype thang- and within a short while things got outta hand, Sleep began to entertain managers/lawyers/ etc to extricate themselves from our record deal.

In 2014 the band had reformed and recently set up a webstore and asked us why they can't press up Holy Mountain themselves-- then had the sheer gall to claim no royalties via a Facebook post (since removed). Meanwhile we intend to apply to court for the unpaid settlement monies still due to Earache. Be careful what you SIGN, indeed.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Question: Is it true that Ewgiket was or is a member of the meads of asphodel, the reason why i ask this is because there are meads like riffs on ewgiket cds and vice versa, also hes rummoured to have several side projects in the works do you know anything of the status of them and if they are likely to sign to earache From:

Answer: James Fogarty of Ewigkeit was indeed a founding member of The Meads duo, from the very first demo up until and including the release of the Jihad mini CD - He was known as "Jaldaboath".It is likely that some comparisons of material during those releases share similarites to Ewigkeit as James had written, arranged & recorded all the instruments & music (save for some lead guitar parts). Other "band members" (i.e drummer "Urukabaramel") had been invented by the vocalist to "fill out" the line-up. The Meads now seems to consist of a full line-up and various guest musicians.

Any similarities since are open to interpretation (for instance the Meads track "80 grains of sand" was released long after James had quit the Meads and yet had a whole section surprisingly similar to the track "Dragons Burning" from the Ewigkeit debut album "Battle Furies", released in 1997).

On this matter, James Fogarty had the following to say ;

"...my mate Nick Moberly who used to contribute to Terrorizer Magazine got an advance copy of the album that was recorded after I had quit. He telephoned me to ask if I had contributed to it, because he said there were some parts that sounded very like my stuff... maybe it was done to show some kind of continuation ? ... to be honest i couldnt give a shit anyway ... it was originally supposed to be like the "monty python" of Black Metal, but I started to get bored with the Black Metal stuff in general ..."

James Fogarty's main "metal" concern right now is Ewigkeit, although "The Blacksmoke Organisation" of which he is an integral part does often venture into metal territory with remixes and original material.

You can now listen to 3 full tracks from EWIGKEIT's new album "Conspiritus" at their myspace page and also download the free MP3 E.P "Return to the land of Fog" at this location

Question: I realize that Earache made Sore Throat\'s cult LP \"Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid\" reissued on CD with their first LP \"Unhindered By Talent\" but only available in Japan... why can\'t it be avaiable in the US as well; I\'ve been dying to get that release from them on CD.

On the topic of Sore Throat, I like their stuff very much but don\'t know much about the band. Can you give a brief history or story about Sore Throat and how they signed to Earache and if they still exist today?

Thanks! From: davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: I though you were'nt gonna ask about our old bands dude!!? ha ha no biggie- i'll answer anything here.Yeah Sore Throat were a Yorkshire based UK politico-crust-grind band in the late 80's, it was a kind of project band formed by musicians from other more well known, but less harsh sounding acts- notably Instigators & Doom, both of whom were on Peaceville Records at the time.

Sore Throat was formed in the wake of Napalm Death's trailblazing acheivements-as one part homage, one part parody,and 2 parts comedy.With tongue half-in cheek,they railed against everything that was 'wrong' with the late 80's Hardcore Punk scene during the first stirrings of its soon to prove-fateful crossover towards metalheads-first DRI, then ND's 'success' in the crossover scene was ample ammunition for Sore Throat's vitriol.

To the uninitiated fan it sounds just like prime UK grindcore, but Sore Throat's music was less important than their rhetoric- they set themselves up as almost 'scene-police', berating the exploding, Earache-inspired grindcore scene, and constantly baiting Napalm Death- I presume cos they were too untalented to actually form part of it.

ST were amazingly prolific, churning out countless albums for many different labels-late on, Earache actually got in on the 'fun' of ST too, and encouraging the band to make a 101 track noisefest monster of an album "Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid'.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Question: I have another question regarding a recent band in your rooster. I see that you\'re making jokes about how people don\'t talk about recent bands but rather talk about the old bands so here\'s something that\'s not a big question but I\'ve been wondering...

I love Cult of Luna... and I know that Earache has signed many bands that aren\'t per-se the heaviest band or even metal... but how did Earache come across Cult of Luna? They certainly aren\'t the most metal band and I know Earache is famous for it\'s promotion of extreme metal so how did Earache stumble upon Cult of Luna? If I may say so myself, they certainly are a great catch of a band for your label. From: davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: Cult Of Luna was discovered and signed to Earache by Dan Tobin the UK label manager + A&R Director responsible for most of the additions to the roster in later years.He was friends with Duncan who ran the small, short lived but very influential Yorkshire, UK- based label 'Rage of Achilles', which had actually issued the COL debut CD, pre-Earache.(I think Duncan says he discovered them by chance via scouring the net for new acts mp3's, which was not as easy as you think in the pre-Myspace era ).

Duncan pressed 2000 cds of the debut-Naturally Earache got to hear that cd early on, and Dan instantly became a big fan of the band...it became an Earache office fave-their expansive, expressive twist on metal was quite breathtaking to us.

Earache approached to sign COL, and also negotiated with Duncan to re-issue the debut as his label unfortunately was'nt able to press any more copies after the first 2000 - now collectors items- sold out.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Question: what is happening with the AT THE gates reissue you mentioned on your site? any info? From: sven666@hotmail.se

Answer: yeah its out on July 17th in Uk/Europe a bit later in USA. features a 35 minute documentary where the old members of ATG discuss the process what went into recording the classic melodic death metal album that put the Gothenburg sound on the map. see trailer above.